Thursday, November 13, 2014

If you've been following along with the tour, then you know that Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2014 is full of colorful and beautiful quilts and projects for your home. If you'd like to take a look inside, check it out on QN's website. And when looking turns to buying, Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2014 is now available at quilt shops, bookstores, newsstands and on line at Quilt and Sew Shop.

I'm thrilled to have two projects in Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2014! First off is my "Fresh as a Daisy" pillow found on page 16.

This cheerful 12" x 16" pillow is made with a mini charm pack, fabric scraps and a half yard of additional fabric. I chose to make mine with Kate Spain's "Daydream" fabric, yum.

And this project is fast! With pre-cut squares, the preparation is minimal, and the only hand work is the embroidered "joy." I appliquéd the flower by machine using pink thread and left the edges of the flower rough for a shabby chic look. Here's a close-up of the flower petals:

To quilt the pillow, I machine stitched 1/4" on either side of each seam. This project is easily accomplished in a day – give one as a gift or, even better, make one for yourself to brighten up your sewing room!

My second project is "True Colors," a lap quilt found on page 84, and may I say, one of my favorite quilts that I've made this year.

I was inspired to make this quilt by a birthday card that I received that featured striped candles atop a birthday cake, but when I finished the quilt top, I was immediately reminded of Fruit Stripe gum...

Photo: givetogrant.org

I almost ended up naming this quilt "White Stripes" a kind of artsy reference to the "negative space" that my brilliant (just in case he reads this) husband came up with, but alas "True Colors" prevailed.

This improvisational quilt was fun to make from start to finish, but choosing the fabric may have been the best part. For each of the 8 rows, I got to choose a dark, medium and light fabric – that's 24 gorgeous colors – and the stack of fabrics was so beautiful that I was afraid to cut into it.

I used a foundation method to make each strip of the quilt and I was a little nervous about it, but it worked beautifully and was surprisingly fast. In fact once I had all of the fabric strips cut and organized for each row, I finished this quilt top in a single weekend.

Here's a picture of the finished quilt top – pre-quilting – draped over my railing late last winter. And eek, sorry, that is snow behind it. If you're not looking forward to winter, look away!

And now the fine print: For a chance to win a fabric bundle from Quilters Newsletter, leave a comment on this post before 11:59 pm MDT tonight (11/13/2014) by clicking on the word "comments" below. You'll be redirected to a "Post a Comment" window. Once there, either scroll to the bottom of the window or click "Jump to Comment Form" and follow the directions to leave your comment. I'll draw one name at random, so please make sure I have your email address. This contest is only open to those who haven't won something from QN in the last 90 days.

Good luck and happy quilting!

***This contest is now closed. Thank you for all of your comments and don't forget to visit the QN blog today (11/14) for links to other designers' blogs and more chances to win! Good luck!***

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Quilters Newsletter's latest special issue, Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2014, is now available in quilt shops, bookstores and on news stands.

And to celebrate the release of Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2014, Quilters Newsletter is hosting a blog tour this week starting at 8:00 Mountain Time tomorrow morning, November 10th and running through Friday, November 14th.

I'll be blogging about my Best Fat Quarter Quilts projects on Thursday, November 13th, and yes, you'll have a chance to win a prize!!

But in the meantime, head over to QN's blog for links to other designers' blogs. Quilter's Newsletter is showcasing project by 12 designers -- that means 12 chances to win!